


December 18th: Christmas Shoes

by DarkJediQueen



Series: A Universe of Meetings [21]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, ProfilersForChristmas2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-01 08:44:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16761808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkJediQueen/pseuds/DarkJediQueen
Summary: Spencer Reid is in line at the checkout of the only grocery store open in the area on Christmas Eve when he meets a little boy who just wants to get something for his mother.





	December 18th: Christmas Shoes

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [FA_ProfilersForChristmas2018](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/FA_ProfilersForChristmas2018) collection. 



> **Prompt:** The Christmas Shoes by Newsong

Spencer Reid swapped his basket from his left hand to the right. The small grocery store was the only shop that was still open at seven in the evening on Christmas Eve that was close to where Spencer's house was. Spencer had come home from two full days at work and found that his fridge had broken down, everything inside of it was ruined. The small ham that Spencer had planned on baking as well as everything else. So Spencer had gone out to find a shop only to find the rest closed. The cashiers were going as fast as they could, but there were a lot of last-minute shoppers it seemed.

In front of Spencer was a little boy. The boy looked to be about eight years old, and he seemed like he was alone. Spencer wondered if the boy's parents were He was moving around like boys did when they were antsy. He couldn't stand still, he couldn't do anything except for prance in place. Spencer watched him as the next, and the next person went in front of them until finally, it was the little boy's turn.

"Sir, please. I would like to buy this book for my mother." The boy set the book that had been in his hand down on the belt that would take it to the cashier. The male cashier rang it up and totaled it out. Spencer heard the price and didn't blink. It was what new books usually cost. The boy dug into his jean pocket and pulled out a wad of money. Next, he dug into his other pocket and pulled out a lot of change, and he kept on going back into his pocket to get a little more. Finally, it seemed like he had hit bottom and came out with nothing more. The boy looked at the cashier who was counting out the money. Spencer could hear the woman behind him huff, but before Spencer could tell her to shut up, she walked away to another line.

"I'm sorry, Son, there isn't enough here."

"No. Oh." The boy turned and looked at Spencer with a frown on his face. HIs eyes were watery like he was going to cry. "What am I going to do? This was her favorite book series and every year I buy her one and take it to her."

Spencer caught onto how the boy used the word was in relation to his mother and her favorite books. He grabbed his wallet and looked a the cash he had. None. So he grabbed his credit card instead.

"Mom used to love reading this series. I remember when we were on vacation she went out and bought the whole set again so she could have something of home. It won't be Christmas without me giving this to her."

"I've got it. You can add it to my order," Spencer said as he set down the basket full of food onto the conveyor belt. The cashier nodded at Spencer.

"Mom's gonna be so happy," the boy said as the cashier handed over the book. He looked at Spencer and smiled before rushing out of the shop. Spencer didn't think anything else of it as he started to hand his things over to the cashier. Next, he handed over the reusable shopping bag that he had brought with him. The ham was put in there first and the rest on top. Spencer swiped his card when it was time and exited the shop. He stopped in front of his lilac purple Chrysler Crossfire. The car had been a gift from his boss for a job well done on a merger that he helped oversee between Grimes Tech and a smaller group in the area that had good ideas but not enough resources or says to find the resources with what they had.

The boy was there at the trunk of the car with the book in hand. The weather was warm for Christmas Eve in DC, it was in the fifties, and it was why Spencer was driving his Crossfire.

"Thank you," the boy said.

"You are very welcome. You had better run along home."

"No one is there. Well, Aunt Jessica is, but she doesn't know I am gone. Dad's at work, and we hope that he'll be home on time."

"Why doesn't she know you are gone?" Spencer asked.

"Last year when Aunt Jessica took me, she was sad for days. I don't want to do that to her. Mom was Aunt Jessica's sister. The holidays are bad enough. I don't want to hurt them. Dad brought me to the graveyard, and he sat in the car."

"What happened?" Spencer asked. The wind picked up, and he opened up the door on his car. The boy scrambled into it before Spencer could even walk around to open the other door. The boy was careful as he climbed over the middle. Spencer wondered why the boy trusted him so much. This was not the act of a boy who was afraid of what a stranger would do to him and Spencer didn't like that.

"Dad got upset but he and mom were divorced long before Mom died but I think he might have still cared for her."

"Well, you should be getting home before your aunt realizes you are gone."

"She's asleep. She woke up early today and fell asleep after dinner. I made it. Pizza rolls as Aunt Jessica was falling asleep before she could cook. She was happy with them. I need to give the book to mom."

"How are you going to get there?"

"I don't know. We moved recently, and the graveyard where mom is laid to rest is across the city. After I left the shop, that's when I realized that I had no way to get there."

Spencer knew that it was a stupid idea, but the boy looked like he would get there one way or another and Spencer didn't want the other way to involve him getting hurt.

"Why don't I take you?" Spencer asked.

"You would?" The boy asked.

"Yes. I would. My name is Spencer Reid."

"Jack." Jack held out his hand, and Spencer shook it.

Jack gave Spencer very detailed instructions on how to get to the place where his mother was laid to rest. Spencer stayed in the car while Jack walked over to the grave to lay down the book. Spencer watched him as he knelt there and opened up the book. It seemed like he was starting to read it aloud. Spencer hoped that Jack wasn't planning on staying and reading the whole thing.

Headlights flashed and then Spencer saw a car pulling in behind him and a man getting out. Spencer got out of his car as well because he wasn't going to leave Jack alone with a stranger.

"Jack?" the stranger said. He stopped halfway between Spencer and jack and was just staring at the boy. "How did you get here?"

Spencer rushed forward to get between Jack and the man that it seemed knew him.

"Dad, you are home." Jack seemed very shocked at the man who was his father.

"Case got finished up early, and I caught a different flight home than the rest of the team so I could try and be here before you went to bed. I called Jessica, and she said you were asleep already." The man looked down at Jack's hand at the book that was there. He laughed. "I bought that for you at the shop at the airport and was going to bring you by in the morning so you could give it to mom."

"Mister Reid brought me after he paid the amount for the book that I didn't have. I think he did it because he didn't want me to cross the city by myself. He didn't set me off as you taught me to do when I meet strangers." Jack walked closer to Spencer and past him to walk to his father.

"Well, after Christmas we can talk about this." The man turned to Spencer. "Thank you, Mister Reid for helping my son in his adventure across the city. He's very driven, which he gets from me. Aaron Hotchner."

Spencer stepped up to shake the man's hand.

"Spencer was buying ham and stuff. I forgot to ask why you hadn't bought it before this." Jack looked at Spencer with an inquisitive look on his face. Even though Spencer had not known him that long, the look seemed like it was a good fit for his face.

"Well, I had. My fridge broke on me and ruined my ham. So I had to buy a new one, but the smallest that they had was way too big, so I'll be eating it for days."

"Who is going to help you eat it?" Jack asked.

"No one. I live alone."

"Dad," Jack said as he looked up at his father with a pleading look on his face.

"Jack, we can't just make him come over. If you want to ask him, do, but you need to ask first before pleading with me."

Spencer wasn't sure what the two of them were talking about. He frowned and tried to figure out what they could be talking about.

"Spencer, come or our apartment for Christmas." Jack looked very pouty as he said.

"I couldn't impose like that. You and your father should Spencer Christmas together."

"No one should be alone for Christmas. We have more than enough and Dad makes turkey, and you could make the ham. What kind of side dishes do you make?"

"Just ham and potatoes and creamed corn. I make a cherry pie, just big enough for me to eat. I didn't get enough pie stuff to make more than enough for me."

"Dad makes a sweet potato casserole for dessert. You can make as big of a pie as you an ad we can all four split it and then eat some of the sweet potatoes as well. Please, Spencer. It would make me happy if you did. You helped me out and I really just want to say thank you. Please let me say thank you by coming and letting us feed you."

"Sounds like we will be feeding each other." Spencer looked up at Jac's father to see that he wasn't opposed to the idea. Spencer actually looked at the man for the first time. Aaron Hotchner was a very handsome man. He wore his years well and while he did not have many laugh lines on his face he did have some. He was very much the kind of man in form and his bearing that Spencer was attracted to. Spencer wasn't sure that going to wherever he lived would be a good idea. "I don't know."

"Is your house decorated for Christmas?" Jack asked.

"Not really. I just have a tree outside my house and have it decorated in shatterproof bulbs and a few other things. Inside, I don't have much up. I don't know if you'd like my place much at all."

"Then we can come to ours. Dad always decorates like Christmas exploded everywhere." Jack was grinning, and Spencer knew that the boy had won. It was stupid, to go to a stranger house and have Christmas dinner with them."

"If you give me your number, Spencer, I'll text you the address, and you can show up after you get anything you need. I have a guest room that you can use. Jessica will not be staying the night and will be going to see her parents tomorrow morning and then will be back for lunch with us."

Spencer nodded his head, and he watched as Aaron pulled his phone from his pocket and tapped on it for a few seconds before he looked at Spencer. Spencer rattled off his phone number, and Aaron nodded his head as he typed it in.

"I hope that we see you soon but if we don't, please had a Merry Christmas." Aaron reached out and tugged with him, but Jack resisted it and ran to the grave to lay the book down. Spencer saw where it looked like there were several others there. Jack pressed a kiss to the gravestone before running back to his father. Jack looked back at Spencer and waved before getting into the car when Aaron opened the door. Aaron looked at him after he shut the door. There was something in his gaze that set Spencer shivering in a very good way.

Spencer drove back to his house, debating the whole way if he really wanted to go to a strangers house for Christmas, and stay the night.

* * *

Spencer rolled over in bed and buried his face in the sheets. Aaron rolled with him, not letting him escape. Spencer didn't try and get too far, his body ached from good sex, and he kind of missed that in his life. He hadn't had a lover in two years after his last had left him because he worked too much. Spencer didn't think that he did. He made time for the things that he thought deserved his time. His last boyfriend had not cut it. Aaron and Jack though, they might just be something that deserved his time.

"Merry Christmas," Aaron said, mouthing along the skin between Spencer's shoulder blades.

"You told me that already when you woke me up after midnight to put the ham in the oven but wouldn't let me do it until you had me." Spencer groaned as he remembered their first and second sex act. Spencer had taken Aaron the first time, and Aaron had taken Spencer the second. A quick shower and they had fallen back into bed and slept it until morning. "What time is it?"

"Just after six. Jack will be up soon, and it's present time. I should head down and get the casserole in the oven. That way it will be done when present opening time is over. Lunch will be whenever we are all hungry, and Jessica is here. You are not required to stay if you don't want to."

"I have nowhere else to be, and I would not want to disappoint Jack on Christmas Day. It's the one day a year that no child should be disappointed."

"Face disappointment a lot on Christmas?" Aaron asked.

"I had some years that were worse than others, but most Christmas's I've had that were good were only because I didn't do anything but what I wanted to do and didn't worry about being with anyone else." Spencer splayed his hand on the bed and looked at his fingers. Aaron reached out and covered Spencer's hand with his own. He pressed down on Spencer's hand before curling his fingers to hold Spencer's hand.

"You and I will go out on a date as soon as we can. I want to see you more. I enjoyed talking with you last night and the sex was wonderful." Aaron licked at Spencer's skin making him buck up a little to try and get the man off of him, but all that did was make Spencer feel Aaron's erection. Spencer swallowed because he did not think that the man would be horny again. Spencer was worn out. Who did Aaron have sex with enough that he was able to have that much stamina built up? 

"I thought that Jack was going to be up soon?" Spencer asked. He raised his ass up again, rubbing it on Aaron's erection. "And you needed to get downstairs and cook."

"There is time for another round. I made sure the door was locked." Aaron let go of Spencer's hand and instead curled the whole arm under Spencer and moved them both to the center of the bed. "You could just lie there and take whatever I do to you. I'd be fine with that. Very fine. Or you can roll over and let me have you again. Guests choice."

"Dad!" Jack yelled and then two seconds later there was a knock on the door. 

"We will be right out, Jack!" Aaron yelled back, and Jack took off running. Aaron laid his head on Spencer's back. "Or he can get up super early today so we will have to hold off on what I wanted for Christmas."

"Sex with me is what you wanted for Christmas? Well, you already got it once, it's greedy to want more than that." Spencer was smiling into the bed sheets. Aaron started to move, kissing every bit of skin that he came across as he scooted down the bed to get off of it. Spencer groaned as Aaron gripped Spencer's cheeks and swiped his tongue between them right over Spencer's hole. Aaron was gone just a second later.

Rolling over in bed, Spencer squinted at the figure that was Aaron as he moved around the room. The man was grabbing things to get dressed. Spencer finally grabbed his glasses and slipped them on to watch as Aaron left the bedroom but left the door open. Spencer frowned because he had not heard Jack go down the stairs to the ground floor of the townhouse that Jack called an apartment. He was still on the second floor. Spencer sat up to wrap the bedsheet around his body, but just as he was about to get off the bed, Aaron came back with Spencer's suitcase. 

"Oh, thanks," Spencer said. He had put his things in the guest room when he had arrived but what had started out as talking on the couch had ended up as making out on the couch when Spencer had got very brave with the alcohol in the eggnog and kissed Aaron. From making out, they had stumbled up into Aaron's bedroom. The rest was history as Spencer had heard someone say before. He let the blanket fall as he reached for the suitcase. Aaron set it down on the bed before he held out his hands to help Spencer up and off of the bed. He kissed Spencer gently and reverently like Spencer was precious. That almost has Spencer in tears before no one had ever kissed him like that, especially someone that Spencer had known for less than a day. 

"You don't have to stay, but I would love it if you did."

"I have nowhere else to be. Not for a few days. My boss has barred me from work. He wants me to have a life."

Aaron grinned and leaned in to kiss Spencer as the doorbell rang. Aaron pulled back and frowned. 

"It's way too early for Jessica. You get dressed, and I'll see who is here." Aaron dove back in for another kiss and rubbed his nose on Spencer's. When he stood up, Spencer could see a lot of emotion in Aaron's eyes. Spencer figured that he looked the same. Too many strong emotions after so little time together but at least they were both feeling that. 

"UNCLE JAX!" Jack yelled. 

"Jackster!" a very familiar voice said. 

Spencer looked at Aaron and saw that he was smiling. 

"Here," Aaron said as he walked back to the closet and came back with a robe in his hand. It looked very soft. "I want you to meet Jax."

"Before I get dressed?" Spencer asked. 

"No. I want you to get dressed and then put this on. Your skin is already raised because of the coolness."

Spencer got dressed quickly in the jeans he had brought with him and a thin sweater that he layered a T-Shirt under. He slipped the robe on and took Aaron's hand when he offered it. Spencer made sure to stay behind him. 

"Aaron?" Jax called out as the sound of him coming up the steps echoed up the bend. Spencer shuffled a little further behind Aaron to make sure that he wasn't visible. "Jack tells me that the man who helped him last night stayed the night and not in your guest room. Where is he?"

Aaron stopped on the landing in the middle of the stairs and tugged on Spencer's hand, but Spencer stayed behind him. Aaron chuckled, and just as he was turning around to face Spencer, Jack's loud steps sounded on the stairs. 

"Yes, where is Mister Spencer?"

"Mister Spencer?" Jax questioned.

"Yes, Spencer Reid."

"And where is your car, Mister Spencer Reid?" Jax's tone was very friendly and 

"He had a much nicer car than me, so I had him put it in the garage." Aaron sounded a little wary about that. 

"I'd hope it's nicer. I paid a pretty penny for it didn't I?" Jax questioned. 

Spencer looked around Aaron at Jackson Grimes finally and stuck his tongue out at him. 

"You know when I told you to get out of Grimes Tech and find someone to talk to, I didn't quite mean this."

"Spencer?" Aaron asked.

"I run Jax's engineering department," Spencer said. 

"Dear God," Aaron said, and he looked between the two of them. "You are Doctor Reid."

"Yes." Spencer was shocked that Aaron even knew about him. 

"Seen, Aaron if you would have just gone along with it a year ago you could have been-" Jackson stopped and looked back at Jack. "You could have started this a year ago."

"What?" Spencer asked.

"Jackson has been trying to talk me into going into his building and asking you on a date. He never shared a picture just the name Doctor Reid and what you did for him as well as you being lonely as well. Well, Jackson, since you are here, you can entertain Jack while I heat breakfast in the oven so we can eat after presents."

Jackson turned and ushered Jack down the steps. Aaron turned to face Spencer fully. 

"Well, this is an interesting turn of events. He's never going to not crow about this, you know." Aaron was smiling as he said it. Before Spencer could answer, he ducked his head down for a kiss. Spencer gave it willingly. Spencer wrapped his arms around Aaron's neck, holding him there. 

"I know he's not, but he was not wrong, and even if he was not part of the reason that we met, he's still going to smug about the fact that he was right."

"At least now I don't have to worry about you slipping away with a way to find you," Aaron said. 

"Yes, mister FBI agent. Now that I know you know him, I know about his friend Aaron in the FBI. BAU right?" Spencer had heard Jackson talking about Aaron a great deal, but he had never given his last name. Spencer would have known that Aaron Hotchner, Jackson's friend was the same as Aaron Hotchner the man he met. The name Hotchner was not very common in the DC area.

"Yes. BAU Unit Chief." Aaron was smiling, and it turned wicked in a few seconds. Spencer wasn't sure what that was about. "I have a keycard that supposed to get me anywhere that isn't dangerous to enter without an escort. Does that include your area?"

"Most of it. It, however, won't get you into my office or office suite. If the date goes well tomorrow night, I'll add you to the system. I'll just need the ID number used on your keycard." Spencer wrapped his arms around Aaron's neck and held him tightly there. He felt like a slight idiot for wanting this as much as he did. He really wanted everything with Aaron, and it was way too short of a time for him to actually want any of that. Aaron wrapped his arms around Spencer's waist and took a step, forcing Spencer back into the wall. 

"I look forward to surprising you in your office and fucking you over your desk or even getting under it and sucking you off while you talk to Jax." Aaron kissed up the side of Spencer's cheek before nipping at his ear. "Stay tonight as well."

"Yes," Spencer breathed. He tried to get Aaron's face back to his but was unable. Aaron was like a rock and holding himself in place as well as Spencer. 

"I'll allow you to go home and get dressed but otherwise until our date you are mine." 

"I'm hungry," Jack called up the stairs, and it made Aaron laugh. He finally pulled back to where Spencer could see his face. There was a burning desire there as well as soft affection. Spencer knew that the same was reflected on his face as well. Spencer was certainly okay with feeling that for Aaron and hoping that it grew into more with time. Aaron was just as dedicated to his job as Spencer was but Spencer knew that Aaron made time for the things he deemed necessary. It was why Jackson had tried to get Spencer to agree to a blind date with the man a year ago. Spencer had shut him down. If it weren't for the fact that there was no way that he had engineered Jack being at the store that Spencer was at, Spencer would have thought that he made it all happen. Jackson was smart, but he wasn't that smart. 

Christmas for the first time was something that Spencer was looking forward to, hell he was just looking forward to everything with Aaron. Everything from then on out.

# The End


End file.
